After achieving the highest ratings in its short history, TruTV has announced an aggressive slate of eight new reality programs and the return of 13 existing series, including 'Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura,' according to the Hollywood Reporter. Joining the former governor is the hidden-camera series 'Exposed' from Ashton Kutcher, which is being described as a "social experiment."

Meanwhile, TruTV has lined up another hidden-camera series: 'Rogue Soiety,' which will "expose bigots and scam artists though various pranks." (They should have gotten Kutcher involved on that one as well, as he knows a thing or two about prank shows.)

Also on tap: 'Ma's Roadhouse,' which will take viewers inside a Texas saloon, 'Limo Bob,' about owner of a fleet of limos in Chicago, and 'The Naked Office,' which follows a business that raises office worker spirits through an unorthodox method of group therapy.

And, of course, you can't get into reality TV without a restaurant series ('America's Toughest Boss') and one exploring supernatural phenomenon ('Disclosure').

No word yet on when these series will hit the airwaves.

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to game shows. I don't really like anything that's too bizarre or wanders too far from the studio audience/stage/host with a mic/play a game format. So I didn't really like the new GSN show 'Instant Recall,' even if there were a few things that I found amusing.

The concept: host Wink Martindale and his crew stage a phony set-up to con someone into playing a game. This first episode featured two people who thought they were at a "love seminar" and a guy who found himself at a party that turned into an intervention for a woman he'd never met before (Wink and the sexy model are in another room as the con unfolds). So yeah, this is 'Candid Camera' with a twist. When it's time to let the victims off the hook, Wink comes in, introduces himself, and they play the game, which is to see if the contestants can remember what just happened to them.

As far as we can tell, here are the responsibilities for hosting Deal Or No Deal:

1. Repeat the painfully obvious rules of the game over and over and over.

2. Loudly announce the names of pretty ladies holding suitcases.

3. Pretend that a game requiring absolutely no skills whatsoever requires skills when choosing numbers in a logically devoid random order.

4. Convince fully-grown adults that you're not pretend-talking on the phone to a villainous, money-hungry banker.

5. Never ever touch the palm of another human being.

On tonight's episode of Dateline on NBC (7:00 p.m.), Today security consultant Bill Stanton will set up hidden camera scenarios that will test how people respond to suspicious situations. Wild Bill: Breaking and Entering, hosted by Rob Stafford, will follow Stanton as he attempts to break into cars, homes and a hotel room right in front of people using the same techniques as seasoned criminals.

Stanton's conclusion is that people aren't as aware of their surroundings as they should be. At the risk of sounding stupidly optimistic, I think another way to look at it is that most of us assume our fellow human beings are usually working with the best of intentions. People should be smart, of course, but I like to assume that people are basically good.

One last thing: the press release describes the episode as an "investigation." Is it really an investigation when you're just creating fake scenarios?

HBO has found a home for another of its critically-acclaimed series in syndication. Bravo is picking up proto-reality series Taxicab Confessions in which cab passengers are secretly filmed by hidden cameras. The show's closing credits always feature the poor, drunk souls signing their images away to the charming driver who just elicited the most torrid possible version of their life story. The series will make its Bravo premiere on Friday and get a big promotional push with a New Year's Eve marathon. So, if you're not stumbling drunk out of a cab yourself, you can watch people do it on TV.